


Captain Rian; Or, How The Efra Saved the Enterprise

by gandalfthesassy



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:10:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gandalfthesassy/pseuds/gandalfthesassy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Starfleet ship of creatures known as the Efra is known as the Dawnbreaker. Her first run-in with the Enterprise does not go as planned. </p><p>The crew (the Efra) are all new characters that I created.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Dawnbreaker Sets Sail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Pike visits the habitable planet in the Brias star system and discovers a new species. These people become the crew of a newly christened starship known as the Dawnbreaker.

I turned my eyes to the skies. A large ship descended from the clouds. It shadowed the sun when suddenly, in front of us, an alien materialized through a swirling white light. When it cleared, I could see what it was; the creature looked remarkably like an Efran, but it didn’t act like one. 

“Who are you?” I demanded in my native tongue, darting forward. “What do you want?” The creature, a male of his species, began to speak, but it was in a language completely unlike ours. “I cannot understand you.” 

Quemina, my dearest friend, came to my side. “He is a homo sapiens, a human, from a planet in the Sol star system known as Earth. It is the only object orbiting the star that can support life.” She listened a little longer. “His name is Captain Christopher Pike of the United Starship Enterprise.” I looked at the ship hovering between our surface and our sky. We had dreamt of star travel, and we had certainly created stories and even smaller cultures surrounding the idea, but we never had the technology available to travel. Really, we figured, why bother? We were happy on Aardon, our lovely homeworld, and we had heard stories of other races that fought each other. The last thing we needed was to find another enemy besides the U’úndo. Some still dreamt, though. All creatures do. 

“How do you know his language?” I asked her quietly. 

“An Earthly escape pod crashed a few years before your mother became one of the elders.” Quemina was older than me, but not by many years. “I found that the language is similar to ours in roots and structure, and their anatomy is inferior but identical to ours.” 

“Inferior?”

“They have four heart chambers instead of six. Psychologically, they also suppress their emotions more than we do. As a result, they are less honest, more manipulative, and harder to convince of anything that they don’t agree with. They are a stubborn species.” 

“Ah,” I nodded. “I see. Well, why is he here?” 

Quemina turned to the ship captain and repeated this in his language. He responded, and she translated. “He has heard legends of the Zjundas from our enemies. Because Starfleet does not have an alliance with them--“

“Starfleet?”

“It is an Earth-based, human-managed organization that promotes and maintains interstellar travel in our galaxy. Starfleet, you see, needs a crew for one of its newer starships, and they want a crew that is largely ‘alien’. He tracked the source of the word Zjunda to our planet.” 

I relaxed a little. “So he wants the Zjundas to become messengers and workers for this Starfleet?” I wanted to believe it, but something about this Captain Pike was suspicious to me. It seemed odd that they intentionally wanted an all-foreign crew. 

She clarified this with Pike, and she nodded at me. “He wants to know who’s in charge here.” 

I gestured blatantly to myself. “How do I speak in his language?” I whispered to Quemina. She told me how to speak as briefly as she could, and I managed to say, “I am Akili Zawadi, the leader of the Zjundas, the great warriors of the Efra, and this world of Aardon is our home. In your tongue, my name would be Wendi Rian. My mother, A’apewe, is one of the seven elders who run our civilization.” 

He glanced around, smiling a little, but he still looked perplexed. “Are you all female?” he wondered. 

Quemina saw the disgust on my face and explained: “His world is patriarchal, or a society that is run by males. Our species is matriarchal; we are run by females.” 

“The men rule on his planet? Males rule?” I cried. She nodded. “It’s a wonder they’ve gotten anything done!” In his tongue, I told Pike: “No, but we are run by female warriors and thinkers. If you would like to stay and study our culture, you are more than welcome to.” 

“Starfleet has asked that I bring the Zjundas to their Academy to try out the Kobiyashi Maru,” he said. The last two words were a strange combination of syllables that I didn’t understand. 

“The Kobiyashi Maru?” I repeated, struggling to pronounce it. 

“It’s a test to see if you qualify as a captain of a ship,” the human explained. “The heads of the Academy don’t think an unknown can pass it, especially an Efran. I think they need to get over their dislike of your people just because of your matriarchy.” 

I rolled my eyes and smirked. “You humans have a strange way of asking a woman to fly away with her,” I said in my language. The Zjundas behind me laughed. “Very well,” I switched back to whatever language he spoke. “I accept your challenge, Captain Pike. If I pass, the Zjundas will be given their ship, and I will choose my crew. If I fail, I request that I immediately return to my homeworld, and your Starfleet does not interfere with our history any longer.” He agreed. 

Flash forward to the present stardate, approximately five years later. I was captain of the U.S.S. Dawnbreaker, a slightly older ship than the infamous Enterprise but nonetheless equipped. After completing an entry in my captain’s log, I reclined in my chair. I turned to my first officer and asked, “Have you ever seen a more beautiful image, Quem?” We looked out the large window at the front of the bridge, towards a cluster of stars. 

She shrugged slightly. “I haven’t been keeping track of how beautiful every moment in time happens to be, but I do become caught up in its majesty quite often.” 

I chuckled in understanding. 

“Captain!” navigator Oan spoke up. “We are heading into enemy territory.” 

“I thought we were flying away from it,” I clarified. 

“There are freakin’ enemy ships all around us,” helm officer Leilu restated. “Captain, should we fire?” 

“Are their weapons out on display?” 

“Captain--“

“Do they look like they’re going to fire?” 

“No.” 

“Then we hail them. Safety over slaughter. Lieutenant Zale,” I turned to the red shirted woman with double braids, “hail the fleet.”

“But Captain, you said that we shouldn’t--“

“To hell with what I said. Hail them.” She gave in, but they did not respond. 

“Captain, there is another Starfleet ship behind us!” Leilu reported. “It looks to be the USS Enterprise.” At that moment, the enemy ships began to shoot at us. 

“We do not need their help!” I said. I ate my words two seconds later when our ship was attacked, throwing the bridge crew to one side. My head slammed against a desk and I fell into blackness.


	2. Attack on the Enterprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Rian wakes to find that the famed ship is in trouble, but the fate of her own vessel is unknown.

Groggy and weak, I opened my eyes and shook my head slowly. With much effort, I brought myself to a seated position, but I was coaxed back down. A man in a blue Starfleet shirt said something, but I couldn’t understand him; I felt intoxicated and incapable of functioning at all. Looking at my hand, which the man was disinfecting, I regained my connection with my environment. I was too disoriented to know where exactly I was laying. My rough motor skills came back as I contracted my fingers. I must have said something, because I could feel my lips move, but I couldn’t hear myself. I think I said something like, “I’ve got to save the ship.” 

Finally, I heard the doctor’s words. “You’ll be fine, Captain.” 

My eyes focused on him as best I could, but my eyes wanted to wander. “Wait,” I said quietly, “we were attacked. Where am I?” 

“On the Enterprise,” he responded immediately while cleaning up my hand. “You may have heard of it.”

“Heard of it? I know quite a bit about it, technologically speaking, and about her crew.” To my memory’s surprise, I rattled off the names and ranks of all present Enterprise crew members. “Which would make you Doctor McCoy, known as ‘Bones’. Why don’t I get a cool nickname?” 

“Perhaps you haven’t done anything that’s worth one,” he shrugged and glanced at my vitals on a monitor. “Well, Captain, you appear to be as stable as someone with your biology would happen to be. Question is, can you remember anything from before you blacked out?”

“If I did, I would’ve told you.”

“Do you remember your name?”

“Captain Wendi Rian of the Starship Dawnbreaker. My friends call me Ri. Not that I have any.”

“Considering how little of a pain you’ve been, I’m surprised you don’t have any,” he smiled, and I believed him for once. “We beamed you and your crew up from the wreckage of your ship. The rest of your friends are being taken care of.” I glanced past him and saw Leilu give me a thumbs-up. When I focused back on the doctor, he was waving a tricorder around and making a face at the readings. “Scotty’s taking care of the ship. Your anatomy’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“This is no time for flirting, Doctor McCoy.” 

“I mean it. Your heart rate isn’t normal, though you seem to be functioning normally. I might want to do a full study on your species’ biology when all this is done.” He stabbed something into my neck. I felt a pinch but didn’t react. 

“How’s the ship?”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll get you to the nearest starbase, and Scotty will help with repairs.” 

“Is Fabron alright?” 

“He’s down in Engineering. They’re already discussing the ship.” 

I began to thank him, but my vision went black. 

“We’re being attacked!”

An explosion drew me out of unconsciousness. Bones was not in sight, and half of the sick bay had been demolished by space debris. I immediately leapt into action, fumbling for my phaser, which I found that I no longer had. However, there was a spare phaser by Bones’ base of operations. I lunged for it and whipped around as a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air. 

When I reached the other room, mass hysteria had broken out. In the middle of it all, a poor crewman in a yellow shirt flailed in the grasp of a grotesque creature that rattled and hissed under my stare. “Put him down,” I brought the phaser up and aimed for its head, “or I shoot.” 

It made some nonchalant gesture, as if to say “Go ahead”, so I stunned it. Its captive dropped to the ground. 

“Come on,” I urged the man that I’d saved, holding out my hand. “We have to get out of here.” He took it and pulled himself to his feet. 

From what seemed like nowhere, a voice ordered: “Ensign Chekov, report to the bridge.” So this boy was Pavel Chekov. They said he was nineteen, but I didn’t believe it. Now I saw they were right. Hell if he wasn’t attractive, though. 

“On my vay,” the young man replied in a thick Russian accent. He looked at me curiously. “Who vould you be?” he demanded sheepishly. I wanted to laugh. However, I didn’t; I just smiled and told him who I was. “Keptin Kirk said somezing about clearing things up. He vill need to speak vith you.” 

“That’d be great.” We took off out of the sick bay. As we ran to the bridge, I called out to anyone who wasn’t mortally wounded to evacuate any and all crew members that were still alive. 

Had I been as green as some of the kids I saw scattered around the ship, I’d be scared beyond words.


	3. Returning Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes out.

When we reached the bridge, I saw the famed Captain James T. Kirk with his hands clasped tensely behind his back. To his right, a Vulcan was speaking clearly and evenly to him. I knew it could only be Mister Spock. They seemed to be arguing about what to do. 

“With all due respect, Captain—” Spock insisted. 

“I don’t need respect, I need to save the crew!” Kirk cried. 

“Keptin,” Chekov spoke up, “Rian is awake. She seems to be stable.” Somewhere behind me, Bones muttered an indistinct curse. 

Kirk turned cordially to me, as did Spock. “Captain Rian,” he greeted formally. However, there was disdain in his voice and glance. It made me uneasy. Perhaps Starfleet was teaching their students to be racist towards the Efra. 

“Captain Kirk,” I straightened myself. “The crew has begun evacuating. Now where the hell are we?”

“We are over Aardon, Captain Rian,” Spock reported. “It is an inhabited planet filled with the Efra, a species similar to humans, but they are biologically superior. The shuttle coordinates have already been set for the planet’s surface.” I already knew about Aardon. I turned my eyes to see its blue skies, its orange-brown earth, and its pink clouds. 

I said silently, “Domiádsum.” A mist came to my eyes that went unnoticed. 

“Yes, but they’re not going to like us down there,” Kirk repealed Spock’s calm logic. “Scotty, don’t let anyone go to the surface. This is uncharted space, and we’re not going to scare a bunch of natives.” And this was what I’d most wanted to see: Kirk and Spock, the leaders of the Enterprise. They made a great team. But natives? Honestly, could you be more racist? 

“Natives?” 

Kirk shrugged. “Starfleet hasn’t encountered them before. I haven’t encountered them before. We’re not going to start with them. We have a mission.” That wasn’t true, I told myself. Hadn’t they learned about the Efra by now? 

“I’ve been here before,” I thought to myself. It wasn’t until I saw the stares that I realized that I’d said it out loud. 

“Captain,” Spock referred to Kirk now, “Aardon is our only hope.”

“That’s impossible,” Kirk spoke first. “How could you possibly come here and not tell Starfleet?” He became furious for some obscure reason. 

I avoided his glance, knowing that human males usually calm when unable to look their enemy in the eye. In an instant I realized that that was exactly how he viewed me: an enemy, a foreigner. It made me sick. “I’ve been here before,” I repeated, not wanting to tell him the truth. 

“We’re floating over an unknown planet which you claim you’ve been to, which is clearly bullshit, unless you’re not really part of Starfleet.” 

Again, I didn’t look at him. I kept my mouth shut. 

“Captain, she is—”

Spock didn’t stand a chance; Kirk was on a roll now. “What kind of a space pirate are you anyway? Your ship was floating in space like debris, some of your crew isn’t registered in the system, and your whole immune system is whacked out! Something smells off about you and the rest of your ship.” 

Levelly, I told him, “Kirk, you would not be able to understand—”

“Who are you, huh? Another Khan? You need to get off my ship before everything fails—”

“I don’t remember how I got here or why I had to get on the ship,” I assured him calmly. The observation that I held about humans being stubborn and hard to convince was unfortunately true. Not only this, his emotional state was compromised. “If I had, I can assure you I would be dealing with that.” 

“Okay, you need to get off my bridge.” 

“Where would I go?” I became testy. “Your ship is in ruins, and you’re sending away a senior officer, and a competent one at that. That would not be wise.” 

“Who do you think you are?” 

“She is one of the Efra!” Spock said, raising his voice. Everyone went absolutely silent and turned to us. Kirk became dumbfounded and looked between me and his first officer. It was clear that the captain had never spoken so harshly to a near stranger before. 

“The Efra?” He met my eyes. “Then…you’re Akili Zawadi. The warrior. You’re from Aardon, aren’t you?” Kirk looked sorry as hell, but I ignored him. 

“Mister Spock, how did you know?” I wondered. 

“The scar on your cheek is unmistakable,” Spock looked at me. In a moment, I figured out that he was the only person who could defuse Kirk’s temper, so I pressed on. 

“Tell your captain what you know about me, Mister Spock.” 

“Your race is the only one to have encountered the U’úndo, whom the Federation have tried to ally with. There is a reward for your safe return to Earth. As one of the Efra, Captain, her species is in a state of permanent distrust with Starfleet after an incident involving a Cardassian vessel. She was only allowed command of her vessel because she convinced the head of Starfleet that the atrocities committed on her home planet were not her doing, but the actions of the U’úndo. The majority of her crew are great Efran warriors, or Zjundas. Their planet Aardon was discovered by Admiral Pike many years ago. Various rumors spread throughout the Federation, so he lied and helped the captain create Wendi Rian, and the Efra became simply a variation of humankind. They have been using the Dawnbreaker since Rian faced the Kobiyashi Maru. There is a strong prejudice against the Efra within Starfleet, especially against Rian, who was the leader of the Zjundas before the planet was targeted by the U’úndo. She had to fight her way out, including the casualties of several who are allied with us.” 

“Had I known that you had a deal with the Cardassians,” Rian interrupted, “I would have left them. I was led to believe that Starfleet did not deal with them. They allied with the U’úndo and attacked us.” 

“Now, without Admiral Pike to defend her, she is a fugitive. She goes by Captain Rian to hide her status and tells a false story about her scar whenever prompted. If she goes to Earth, Captain, Starfleet will not let her live without a trial that will take several weeks until she relents and confesses to crimes she never committed. This is her home world. She has been away for many years, longer than you have been involved with Starfleet. I suggest that we take the more logical option and land.” 

Baffled, Kirk said nothing for a long moment. I was grateful that Spock stepped in. 

“I…I have a lot of questions, the first of which is what was your mission?” 

“I don’t know.” I felt terrible. “I need time to reflect and remember the mission.”

Silence filled the space around us again. 

“Well, at least we’re landing,” Bones spoke up, trying to lighten the atmosphere, but no one laughed. 

“I saw a great enemy of ours when I left the sick bay,” I filled the silence, adding to Spock’s context. “As Spock mentioned, the U’úndo are the enemies of the Efra, and they invented space travel before us. However, our weaponry was more advanced, and I led an assault on their starship. I guess I didn’t kill them all. They are to the Efra as the Klingons are to the Federation. The U’undon I faced was only a grunt, and a weak one at that. Your ship is being attacked by the U’úndo; I know the insignia on their ships. I know these men, and they’ll want me, not you. If you must help me, I strongly suggest you let me handle myself.” 

Before he could respond, the bridge’s roof caved in. From the wreckage, an U’undon jumped out, one of high ranking, and went for Spock, but I blocked its attack and grabbed one of its legs. “Get out of here, Enterprise crew! Go down to Aardon! I’ve got this!” The U’undon tried to reach me, but here’s the thing: their arms are too small, and their bodies too fat, to reach down and grab at something that’s on their lower half. I shot it a daring look. 

“Captain Rian, your survival rate on this ship alone is approximately 9.2%.” 

“Never stopped me before,” I pointed out. 

The ship began to pull into the planet’s gravity, knocking us all over. I stunned the U’undon and jumped back to my feet, trying to regain my balance. By some miracle, Scotty stabilized the ship, and we landed on Aardon. I was overjoyed to see that our home was rebuilt almost exactly to what it was many years before. My skin crawled when I realized that my people would smell the blood of an U’undon on my hands and would likely launch into a full war with the U’úndo. 

As we stepped off the ship, we faced the High Council. They were the female elders of the central town, one of whom was my mother, A’apewe Zawadi. 

“Akili,” she gasped, beginning to cry. The Efra may be biologically superior to humans, but we feel much more strongly. Pike called that a weakness, but I disagree. Dealing with one’s emotions head on is the easiest way to control them. I ran to her arms and held her for a long while. “You were gone for so long, but now you are back! And you’ve brought…” There isn’t a word in our language for foreigners. The only encounter we’d had of outsiders were Pike and his crew and the U’úndo. The former, we simply called Sapiem (plural being Sapia), and the latter were our enemies. 

“Mother,” I said quietly, “a fellow Captain from Starfleet had to land his starship here. He’s Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise,” I raised my voice to announce this to the other Efra. “He was friends with Captain Pike, who gave us space travel to pursue our enemies. Kirk saved my life and the lives of the crew of the Dawnbreaker. He is a kahramán of the highest honor.” Oohing and aahing, my people surged forward to lift the mostly-human crew on their shoulders and proceeded to throw a huge party in their honor for returning me home. 

I had forgotten, bouncing from star to star, how much I’d missed Aardon.


	4. Doctor Leonard McCoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bones pays the Efran warrior a visit.

Several evenings later, once again in my captain’s uniform, I lay spread out on my old bed. It was just as fluffy as I remembered it. My eyes wanted to close, but my brain hummed. Fantasies of the vivid kind took charge of my daydreaming. The first thing I wanted to do when I woke up was to find my old friends and restart my search for a mate. 

“Captain Rian?” 

I snapped awake and faced the door, which I remembered that I’d forgotten to lock. 

“Yes, what is it, Doctor?” I yawned, standing up. God only knew why he was standing in my doorway in his long johns. “If you’re here to study my anatomy, I can assure you that you’re not going to learn anything new.” 

“Well, not now. Have you remembered anything?” He entered the room and swung the door shut. 

I stared at him. “It’s been six hours since we’ve landed.” Actually, I had remembered most of our mission, which did involve returning home, but we hadn’t counted on the Enterprise. Rather, we hadn’t counted on Captain Kirk. Our mission was to defend Aardon from the U’úndo, since they had realized that all but six of the Zjundas were away from home and the planet was mostly defenseless in terms of good military leaders. Of course, my mother and the other elders were more than capable, but the Zjundas pose a greater threat. Also, Starfleet promised to stay out of it, but I suppose the Enterprise and her crew were more than capable of helping us. 

“Yes, and in that time, your mother and the rest of your people have thrown the biggest and longest party I’ve seen since Mardi Gras on Alpha Centauri-3.” 

“You don’t like parties?” 

“I do, but…I don’t know. When I thought I’d be stuck on a planet far away from anything remotely resembling Earth, I didn’t think it would be because we’re harboring a fugitive.” 

“My god, you humans are all the same. You latch onto one thing and ignore the rest. I didn’t kill anybody. If I have, it was by accident, and I mean no harm. My fellow Zjundas are more violent than I, but my mother has always told me to avoid death.” 

He looked away. 

“You don’t believe me.” 

“I want to.” 

“Then why can’t you? You’re a doctor. I know one thing about doctors: they have a capacity for empathy unlike any other profession. The first thing you heard about the real me got us off on the wrong foot, but when you were taking care of me in the sick bay before the ship was attacked, you were courteous. I think we’ve been trying to talk to each other, just in different ways.” 

Doctor McCoy smiled a little, meeting my eyes again. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I thought you were just trying to cover your ass.” 

“Aren’t we all?” 

He stepped closer to me. “Captain Rian.” 

The way he said it made me smile. I never thought I would be so tuned into a human voice, but I liked its rhythm. It was like music in its plainest form. “Yes?” 

“You have a way of talking,” he clasped his hands behind his back, “that can get to a fella.” 

“I’ve been told I have a gift for conversation.” 

“You know, for an Efran, you’re very human.” 

“Well, the definition of being human is broader than simply having four chambers of the heart instead of six.” Bones blinked, and I grinned. “Ah! There you go, that’s where you can start your medical study. We do educate ourselves; we just don’t have little computers everywhere. We know firsthand how our bodies work. One thing I learned at the academy was the biology of humans. You only have four heart chambers: the atria and the ventricles,” I found myself poking at his chest where his heart might be. “Whereas I have six, the atria, the ventricles, and in between each atria and ventricle is a midum, and there are two mida. Six chambers. Fifty percent more efficiency in pumping blood, making us fitter and more rational than humans. We develop hemoglobin at a faster rate, and we live much longer. Of course, the last may also be due to our lifestyle.” 

“I love when you talk medical,” he smirked. I noticed his accent changing, almost digressing. His eyes had softened too. I could stare into them forever, but I didn’t have forever. I had the mission. 

“Sorry, I forget that humans aren’t affectionate,” I drew my hand back and awkwardly left it by my side. 

“In our defense, some of us are, but not everyone. They’re not like the Efra.” 

“No. Humans are not like the Efra much at all, are they? Well. A little.” 

“A little,” he agreed. 

“Why do you do it?” 

“What?” 

“Travel around the stars, I mean. For us, it’s to defend ourselves and solve conflicts with less war and more talking. But you were more than happy to get off the ship.” 

“I get spacesick sometimes. It’s not fun.” 

“If that’s so, why do you bother?” 

He thought about this. Finally, he told me, “I love what I do. I don’t always enjoy it, and I don’t always like having to work with certain people on the ship, but I’m a doctor and, damnit, I’ll be one until the day I die. I save people. You know what that’s like.”

“Not in quite the same way, but I believe you. I admire your courage.” There were a million other things I admired about him besides his courage. Right at a time when it would be important for me to make a good impression, I was struggling to stay coherent. 

I opened my mouth to say something, but I closed it again. “What’s wrong?” 

My lips parted to tell him what I was now sure of, but we heard a scream from somewhere else in the palace. 

“Shit,” we chorused. I ran out the door, across illuminated blue marble, and made my way to the throne room.


	5. The U’úndo Leader's Threat

In front of the throne, holding my mother in a slimy claw, was the leader of the U’úndo. He turned both serpent-like eyes to me and smiled with yellow teeth. Pavel ducked behind me. The crew of the Starship Enterprise, their uniform shirts torn mercilessly, was sprawled out on the ground, gasping for air. How the hell could they all be taken out without my noticing something? I could see Captain Kirk, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, and Uhara, but I couldn’t see Commander Spock. This worried me, but my mother was in the claw of my greatest enemy. I breathed deeply and stood my ground. 

“Welcome back, Frœn,” I told the creature in its native tongue. “You have returned from the dead.” 

“It is a miracle, is it not?” it told me in its tongue. To the humans, it must have sounded terrifying. 

“Wendi, what the hell is that thing?” Kirk demanded, weak and spitting blood. 

“The great kahramán of the U’úndo, Frœn. In his language, it means He Who is Reborn, but in my tongue, it means Knight of Hell.” 

It rattled a warning at me, finishing with a question. 

“Yes, I am Akili Zawadi. You are holding my mother, A’apewe. I can only guess that you have my father and the rest of the royal family.” 

“You would be correct!” it answered me with a terrible shout. “I also have your precious ship of the stars, this…Enterprise,” it attempted to say. “These pathetic humans tried to stop me, but I have taken those you hold dear, and I have them in my ship. You know that the Efra have neither the weapons nor the ships to defeat the U’úndo.” He was bluffing. Our weaponry was superior, unless they had been developing something new. I was worried. “Why don’t you give me what is rightfully mine?” 

“And what would that be?” I asked in Earth English. 

Frœn dashed my mother to the ground. It snarked back in Kirk’s tongue: “You know what belongs to me, Akili. The thing that makes the Efra so peaceful and biologically superior. Your heart. And I don’t mean the metaphorical one that has led your people to save each other,” he spat. 

“Haven’t you ever wanted to save your family?” Kirk spoke up. 

“Kirk, stay out of this,” I warned him. 

“Let the human speak!” my enemy declared. “And yes, I have, though your concept of ‘family’ is outdated. Akili killed many of my crew, but she did not kill me.”

“I was trying to get to you, and they got in my way. Their deaths were unintentional.” 

“I view those dead as my ‘family’. I want nothing more than to rip the beating red flesh from your chest and give it to my children so that they may see what a true warrior takes from their enemies. Unlike you. You will never know how it feels, to hold in your very hand what makes your enemy so great!” The crew of the Enterprise looked terrified. 

“I would do the same, except I am not as violent. Your three hearts aren’t located in your chest, they’re in your head. Strange way for your Creator to construct you, isn’t it?” 

“Do not mock me for what I know to be true, you Efra scum,” he snarled at me. 

“Enough talking. Why have you invaded my home, and why have you taken my family from me?” 

The U’undon gave me a sickly smile. “I need not explain my methods to you.” 

“Explain for those who have never heard of you before today. Tell them how you set me up to be marked by a race of creatures I had hoped to be peaceful with. Tell them how you massacre every single species you come across. Tell them how you will stop at nothing to ensure the obliteration of everything in the universe until you and your people are the only ones left. Tell them why you want that, and why you hate me. I know why. You want to take over the universe, and you refuse to let me stand in your way.” My face had turned red, the thump-tha-thumping of my heart growing vociferous. “You hate me because I am a threat.” 

“That is the Ultimifiini, the Ultimate Goal.” He switched to his native tongue and continued. “My purpose in taking all that you hold dear is to see the look of horror in your eyes when you realize that you should never have returned, and that it is your fault that this is happening. I am going to torture and execute every single man, woman, and child on this planet, and I will take the scum humans who allowed you to return and do the same. That is my purpose, Akili. When they are all dead, I will take you to the ruins of my planet, the one that your precious Starfleet destroyed long before you were born, and I will rip your organs one by one from your chest, last of all your heart. I will show them to you as you cry for salvation, for the pain to end, but I will not give you that. I will make you suffer until you breathe your last.” 

Chills ran down my spine. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t do this to me. “Let my people go,” I replied, first in Earth English, then in U’undon. Tears clouded my vision, but I blinked them away. “I will say it again: what do you want? I will give you whatever you wish. I will give you my life, my still-beating heart that you want so badly, if you let them live.” 

“By them, who do you mean? Your family, or your friends?”

“The Efra and the crew of the Enterprise.” 

“Who? The humans?”

“They aren’t all human.” 

“What makes you think I’d spare them?” he almost laughed, still in his native tongue. I could only imagine how it sounded to those who didn’t speak U’undon. 

“Because if you didn’t, I wouldn’t let you do as you wish to me,” I replied as he walked towards me. His eyes moved to Bones, but I blocked him. “No. Leave him be.” 

“I believe I’ve found your weakness, Akili,” he chuckled. “A Sapien has managed to catch your attention? What a joke.” 

“Do not touch him,” I stepped forward, pushing my shoulders back and meeting his eyes. This was my official challenge to him, even though Frœn was a foot taller than me. I spoke quickly. “He is an ally of ours and an enemy of yours. Harming him or anyone else means that you have made the first move of war. Do you not realize this?” 

“Why else am I on your pathetic planet?” 

“You have invaded my home, and you are not welcome here.” 

“I am not welcome anywhere,” he told me simply. “What makes you think an Efran could stop me in getting what I want?” 

I spotted something behind my enemy. “Because I’m not the only one threatening you.” 

Frœn made a noise of confusion before stiffening comically. He fell to the ground and I saw Spock draw back his hand from his species’ signature neck pinch. “Captain Rian, how did you know I would be on hand to help?” 

“Well, it’s called a hunch,” I grinned. “Something we humans have.”

“Except you are not human,” Spock tilted his head slightly and put his phaser away. 

“I act like one,” I turned back to Bones. One corner of his mouth turned up in acknowledgement. 

“That cannot be denied.” 

“Thank God you’re here, Spock,” Kirk pushed to his feet and went over to him. 

“Captain, it was only logical that I should assist the crew of the Enterprise and a fellow Starfleet captain.” 

“I can see why you keep him around, Kirk,” I grinned. “But where are my crew?”

“I think Frœn still has them,” Bones apologized. “They were beamed aboard while I was checking their vitals.” 

Suddenly, the sound of hundreds of U’úndo rattling in spite filled every room of the palace. As my ears were filled with the most terrible sound in the universe, white light surrounded me. I looked at my arms and saw I was being beamed up. “Wait, no!” I yelled as U’úndo warriors ran from all sides and attacked the Enterprise crew. My vision went white as every atom in my body separated.


	6. Captain Rian Solves the Problem

I reappeared on my own ship. Confused, I fumbled for my phaser, which I still didn’t have. My head of engineering, Lt. Comm. Vino Fabron, walked up and reported to me: “Captain, Commander Quem wishes to speak with you on the bridge. It’s urgent.”

Everything appeared perfectly normal. It was too quiet for things to be normal. Something wasn’t right about my arrival onboard. “Mister Fabron?”

“Yes, Captain.” 

I stepped down from the platform and headed for the bridge. “What happened?” He continued following me, answering as best he could. 

“You were trapped on Aardon, and we rescued you.” Fabron sounded as confused as I was. 

“No, I know that. Who’s in charge of this vessel?” 

“You are.”

“No, I can’t be. I didn’t request to be beamed back,” I got into the elevator and faced him as the doors shut. “Something’s very wrong.” He shot me a look as if to say, ‘We’re screwed but I can’t tell you any more or they’ll kill me’. I got the message. 

“Captain,” my first officer’s voice reached me over a loudspeaker, “are you heading towards the bridge?”

“I am, Miss Quem. Why?” 

“Don’t.”

The graveness and blunt tone to her voice scared me. “Why not?” 

“The U’úndo have seized the ship,” she continued. “We are being held hostage. If you try to take the ship back, we’re all going to die.”

“Not on my watch.” 

The doors opened again and I walked into the hall. Immediately, I was surrounded by U’úndo guards. They didn’t stand a chance; I dismantled all five and stole a gun from one of them. A fugitive on my own ship? Great. I needed help. 

“Leilu, what’s going on? I need answers.” I ran down the corridor towards my bridge. 

“The U’úndo have taken the ship. They’re holding us on the bridge in our seats. They have guns pointed at our heads.” An U’undon rattled something almost unintelligible to her. “What did he say?”

“He wants us to surrender,” I translated. “And he wants us to…give up the crew of the Enterprise.” 

“That is exactly what our mission was not to do,” Doctor Galen pointed out. “You had to get on the Enterprise and steer them away from Aardon. We knew attack by the U’úndo was imminent, and we wanted to make sure there were no casualties.” 

“I know that,” I whispered as the doors slid open.

“Captain on the bridge!” Ensign Oan called out, but an U’undon soldier smacked him. I tensed my shoulders and walked forward, but two U’undon grunts stood in front of me. 

“No ship should go down without her captain, am I right?” I asked them. In their tongue, I snarled: “Let the Sapiens go and I will give you my life.” 

“Nonsense,” Frœn replied from behind me. I turned over my shoulder to face him. “They’ll be dealt with accordingly.” 

“You leave them alone.” 

“Oh, please, Rian, you’re so ghastly,” he scoffed in U’undon and went up to the captain’s chair (MY chair). 

“I’m done bargaining. Give me back my crew, my friends, and my ship.” 

“And why would I do that?” 

Quem jumped out and punched him in the face, her long blonde hair flipping over her other shoulder. “Because she said so, now get out of the chair.”

The U’undon soldiers pointed their guns at her, but I slipped between my captors and leapt up to my chair. I grabbed the exposed mass that controlled Frœn’s body and pulled as hard as I could. I couldn’t kill him just by pulling, but I could damage him permanently. Shots rang out everywhere and my crew fought back until we had defeated the invaders. When I looked towards my archenemy, he was beaming away. I threw several curses his way and went up to the dashboard. 

I sat down in my captain’s chair and everyone got back to their posts. “Miss Quem, status report.” 

“The crew of the Dawnbreaker has been liberated,” she reported, standing next to me. “All U’úndo have been purged or beamed from our ship.” 

“And the Enterprise?” 

“The ship is still locked inside the ship of the U’úndo.”

I cursed under my breath. “Fabron, can we beam up the crew of the Enterprise?” 

“There’s too many of them, I can’t get a lock on all eighty-five of them,” Fabron told me via intercom. 

“Lieutenant Leilu, how many can we beam at a time?” 

“Probably seven, at most,” Leilu shook her head and guessed as best she could. 

“So do the math, how long will it take us to get them onto the ship?” 

“Captain, we can’t hold them all on the ship,” Fabron stopped Leilu from responding. 

“Do the math,” I repeated. “Thirteen, correct? Thirteen beams, seven per group. Then we can hold off the U’úndo and chase them out of the star system.” 

“Captain,” Quem spoke up, “why couldn’t we just beam you aboard the Enterprise? It would be faster for you to beam to them instead of bringing the crew here.” 

“Quem, I value your logic, but I need to get them to safety, and I want to get the U’úndo away from Aardon. Getting the crew aboard our ship does both.” 

“Very well. I was just advising you.”

“Fabron, beam them up seven at a time, starting with the red shirts, then move to the Captain and the bridge crew,” I ordered. It took longer than we anticipated, but the casualties were minor and Doctor Rica Galen made sure everyone was in perfect health. 

When the majority of the crew was on board, I sent them to various parts of the ship to assist my crew, and we attempted to check attendance. 

“That was shockingly simple,” Rica remarked over the intercom. 

“As much as I’d like to investigate the attack,” I told her, “we should get these folks back to the Enterprise.”


	7. All Quiet on the Starship Front

A hand tapped my shoulder. “Keptin?” 

I whipped around. “Ensign Chekov. Do you need help?” 

“Ah,” he fumbled for the right words, “I need to speak with you. Alone.” 

“Alright, alright. Meet me in my quarters in five minutes.” I gave general orders to Quem and walked to my room. 

Alone, I collected myself. What had I done this time? Why did the little Russian man have to speak to me? 

Exactly five minutes after I left the corridor, the door slid open and he walked inside like a schoolboy who was about to be punished. 

“Why did you need to speak with me?” I blurted as the door shut behind him. 

He breathed deeply and replied: “I vanted to thank you for saffing my life.” 

I couldn’t help laughing. “Is that all? It’s perfectly fine, Chekov, it’s part of the job.” 

“No, I mean, vhen ze U’undon leader captured me and you rescued us all…not many Starfleet keptins would do that.” 

“Well, I’m not many Starfleet captains.” He averted his gaze again, and I suddenly realized what he meant to say but couldn’t. Why was he having trouble admitting it? 

“Pavel,” I began, and he looked at me, “in my world, when a man loves a woman, he is obligated to tell her that he does.” 

“I’m not from your world,” he pointed out, but the redness in his cheeks indicated that I was right. 

“The universe is my world, Chekov. I am the first of my species to set foot on another planet, and it’s only through admitting the truth that any sort of creature can evolve.” I did have a great affection for him, but I wasn’t sure that it was true love as he felt for me. I felt a little guilty, but I reminded myself that we barely knew each other and that he was barely an adult by Earth standards. “You have to back to the Enterprise, okay? They need you there. I’m needed on my ship, too.” His babyface was contorted, scared. I put my hands on his shoulders and met his eyes. “Pavel Andreivich Chekov, if you value being a hero as I value it, you will return to your ship and do your job, because that’s all you can do, and you do it well.” 

He threw his arms around me and buried his face in my shoulder. “Thank you,” he said quietly. I thanked any God in heaven at that moment that I wasn’t human; I might have found it awkward that he was being so affectionate. Luckily, I was Efran, and I hugged back. 

“You’re very welcome,” I smiled. “Now, go,” I urged him, shoving him playfully towards the door. “They’re waiting for you.” He disappeared out the door. 

“Bridge to Rian, do you read me?” Lieutenant Stella Zale, our communications officer, paged me. 

“Go ahead,” I acknowledged her. 

“The Enterprise is wondering where Navigator Chekov is,” she told me, her voice almost worried. 

“Is Kirk concerned about his ensign?” I chuckled. “He’s on his way right now; he should meet Fabron in five minutes or so. If not, send a few of the crew to check on him. You’ll spot him. Tall, blonde curly hair, Russian. Not hard. Is that all?” 

“I was wondering,” Quem jumped in, “if you could help me, Captain. Doctor McCoy has just sent over a few of his medical staff to help Doctor Galen.” I couldn’t help laughing again. “Are you alright, Captain?” 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Tell him that we’re flattered. If any of them are science officers, they defer to you. If they’re medical, they defer to Galen. Rian out.” 

I collapsed onto my bed, exhausted at everything that had happened. One thing was certain: this wasn’t our last run-in with the Enterprise and her crew.


End file.
